Rants on Cycling and on Life:
Photos of people and bicycles that pass in front of my camera

7.14.2008

if you are going to change things... change them for the better

this morning when I hiked the dog I saw a box turtle on the trailthe sighting of a box turtle, a fox, or a snake in the woods of rock creek park always gives me hope

deer are also fun to seebut far more commonif you are going to change things...change them for the bettershort and sweetrock creek park is in a state of disrepairthe trails that border the neighborhoods get the most usethese trails are nothing shy of neglectedthe daily foot traffic of the runners, walkers, and dog walkers are beating the paths to its corethe paths themselves are oldnot only are the paths old but they are poorly designeddesigned long before there was such a notion as trail designbefore there was a concept of sustainabilitybefore there was a population mass like there is todaymany of these trails are also the creek beds/stream beds of the running water from the rainthe alley ways and gutters all feed into each othersending all the water down into the park at oncea slight rain brings in water at great volumea hard summer rain can send water into the park rushing like a riverthe trails can not withstand this volume of waterthe impact is clear and visible just as roads get rebuilt over timeso must foot trailsit is a simple fact of lifejust as car traffic gets reviewed and routes get analyzed and reroutedso must hiking trailsthis should become a fact of life the hiking trails of rock creek park are in deep need of a visitfertile soil needs to be brought inindigenous plants should be put in placethere should be a conscious effort to control the floodingwhere the alley ways meet the woods there should be irrigation gardensas well as barriers to guide the flow of waterdrain pipes in the neighborhood should be cleared and functionalsomething is a miss each rain strips away the soil from the trailsover the years I have done a fair amount of workbags and bags of trash removed from the parkhundreds and hundreds of bottles and cans.... far more bottles than canstires and other larger items have been dragged from the woodsI once dragged a car seat from a gulleyonly to witness a National Park Service employee toss this seat back into the woods some days laterthere needs to be an understanding of sustainabilityin addition to my trail clean up I have also tried to guide the trial usersso many people cross cutting trails and beating new pathsblocking unnecessary short cuts and illogical paths with fallen tree limbs and branches another trail user/dog walker has also taken on this taskhis efforts far greater than my ownI have also tried to slow the erosion through a similar processsimply by putting some logs perpendicular to the trailson steeper trailsI have build terraced stairs... setting the logs perpendicular to the trail with a little build up and nature does the restthe logs catch the run off as it gets carried away in the rushing volumes of rain water

these terraced stairs have made sections of trail far more managable pieces of trail that were too steep to walk without slipping are now manageable due to these stairs these stairs slow the flow of water during the summer rainsthey also act to catch the run off of top soilit is an organic processthe stairs are a living part of the trailthey build up and tear downthey become part of the woodshome to the bugs and animals that call these woods home

I have seen that the steep sections of trail are far more walkable due to the terraced stairsless slipping and falling this weekend while hiking my black dog brutus I hiked on the section of woods in rock creek where I have terraced some stairs in a problematic spoton a short section of trail where I had once set up some terraced stairs I found that someone had taken it upon themselves to undo what I had donethey had ripped up the terraced stairs... well... at least some of thembut... their efforts had not made things betterthe trail was not more safe or more comfortable to walknot even more ascetically pleasing in fact the changes made it more awkward to approachI lost my footing on my first walk downit was all very frustratingI question why this person had undone what I had worked so hard to dowhy did they not work to fortify these stairs rather than tear them downthe stairs grow and changethey become more stable and at times they grow frailthey need to be rebuiltno different than the roads we drive our cars

earth expands and contracts with the seasonsthe soil drys up and gets washed awaysome stairs build up to be more stable than others changes in the weather build up and tear down these stairsthe stairs are as organic as the woods themselvesthey are made of the woodsthey are part of the woodsfrustrate I continued on my dog walkbreathing easytrying not to let these actions get my heart rate upI have never taken a poll on the trail users' opinion on my effortin fact my rogue efforts are done under the radarnever trying to get creditjust trying to give back to something that gives so much to me

I question what the perspective of other trail users may be...my guess is that the majority approve of my effortswhile I am aware of a slight minority that disapprovesclearly the person who took action against the terraced stairs believes that they are doing something betterwhat was their motivation?they may have undone something that they did not agree withbut... they did not make things better

the trailheads... well... rebuilding the trailheads would be a great startif we rebuilt the trailheadscut off some short cutscleaned up the intersectionsbrought in some furtile soil and some indigenous plantsokay... I am carried awaycall me a dreamer

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